


tethered

by captaincastello



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Character Death, Drabble, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 13:35:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8892697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captaincastello/pseuds/captaincastello
Summary: He's gone where Baze can't follow.





	

**Author's Note:**

> there's no lie, the movie fucked me up real good

Many a man or creature has asked him what he's doing following a blind man around. Countless times he’s been told the same mundane things – he can do better, he should get a real job, live his life unchained to the handicapped fool.

_All is as the force wills it._

He’s never believed in such a complex, surreal thing – power that surrounds all, an energy field that binds the whole galaxy together – if it brought the sightless Chirrut to him, then being together must mean something – staying together must mean something more.

_I don't need luck, I have you._

_I have you_ – these words echo loudly, these words hurt and put everything back together; they’re all he needs to know, all he has to hang onto, his lifeblood.

 _I have you_ – to be someone’s, to be relied on, to be trusted with someone’s life and stories, and for that someone to be no other than Chirrut – Baze has known no greater pleasure in his relatively short life.

Chirrut Imwe - his eyes see nothing at all; his eyes see everything Baze or any other can't see. He has nowhere to look but forward, onward to what calls him.

_I go where he goes._

Finally, it seems that Chirrut has gone where he can’t follow. The galaxy will carry on, yet no one else will ever come close to what Chirrut was for Baze, no one else can fill in the void where Chirrut resides inside him.

_I go where he goes._

Apparently, even in the face of pure destruction, that doesn't change. In the end, the one who badly needs Chirrut is Baze himself.

There's only one place he needs – desires – to go right now.

_I am one with the force the force is with me I am one with the force is with me I am one with the force_

The world explodes; hot sand bursts forth from all directions, the scorched earth screams and armed birds fill the sky with their shrill cries, rebels and Shoretroopers fall like discarded broken pieces of glass across the tainted terrain.

A few paces away, Chirrut lies facing the sky, unbothered, untethered. He knows his sacrifice – _their_ sacrifice – allows many to live and fight for another chance, another shot at freedom. Where he lies, hope blooms; nothing but the body has died.

He’s gone where Baze can’t follow – at least not in this vessel of a worldly body.

Then, unexplainable yet inexplicably and undeniably real, there's a sudden pull - a strange sensation of being tethered, of being anchored, a string uncut yet rendered stronger. The clouds of sand dissipate, his vision clears, and he sees Chirrut, peaceful.

Amidst it all, Baze hopes.

_I am one with the force the force is with me I am one with the force is with me I am one with the force_

The blast consumes him, and Baze Malbus embraces death with his dearest comrade in his eyes and a smile on his face.


End file.
